The present disclosure relates to additive manufacturing systems for printing or otherwise building three-dimensional (3D) parts or objects with layer-based, additive manufacturing techniques.
Additive manufacturing systems are used to print or otherwise build 3D parts from digital representations of the 3D parts (e.g., AMF and STL format files) using one or more additive manufacturing techniques. Examples of commercially available additive manufacturing techniques include extrusion-based techniques, jetting, selective laser sintering, powder/binder jetting, electron-beam melting, and stereolithographic processes. For each of these techniques, the digital representation of the 3D part is initially sliced into multiple horizontal layers. For each sliced layer, a tool path is then generated, which provides instructions for the particular additive manufacturing system to print the given layer.
The additive manufacture of 3D parts typically involves the formation of a 3D part from a digital representation of the 3D part in a layer-by-layer manner. Supporting layers or structures are typically built underneath overhanging portions of the 3D part, which are not supported by the part material itself, or in cavities of 3D parts under construction.
There are various metallic salts, such as sodium chloride, that are candidates for soluble support materials for additive manufacturing, such as described in Lombardi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,034, for WATER SOLUBLE RAPID PROTOTYPING SUPPORT AND MOLD MATERIAL and in Crump et al, U.S. Pat. No. 8,245,757, for INORGANIC IONIC SUPPORT MATERIALS FOR DIGITAL MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS. Exemplary advantages to the use of such metallic salts as support material in an additive manufacturing process include low cost, high melt point, good strength, and excellent solubility. However, conventional additive manufacturing systems are limited in the ability to precisely and quickly depositing metallic salts that are candidates for soluble support materials or for modeling materials.